The highly competitive packaging, food processing, plastics, printing and labelling industries came alive at Propak Africa, Print Expo, Pro-Plas Expo, FoodPro and Pro-Label Africa, which took place at the Expo Centre, Nasrec, Johannesburg, from 12-15 March. Organised by Specialised Exhibitions Montgomery, the exhibition attracted 13,010 local and international visitors interested in viewing the latest products, machinery, equipment, and consumables that the industry had to offer. 

Says Gary Corin, Managing Director, Specialised Exhibitions Montgomery, “We tracked visitor attendance daily and saw that we were consistently up on numbers from the previous show in 2009, with exhibitors reporting interaction with high-level decision-makers. This translated into many sales being made from the stands and additional sales leads generated for post-show follow-up.” “This was good news for our 530 exhibitors who were using the exhibition as a platform to introduce their latest machinery, equipment, products and services,” says Corin. “Visitors were able to converse with the most progressive local and international companies and view latest global trends, innovative technology developments and new products launched to market.”

 
During the show, Rotocon announced the receipt of a purchase order from First Impression Labels, a converter in South Africa, for a Rotocontrol RSC 340mm web width vertical inspection slitter/rewinder finishing machine. This was the second Rotocontrol RSC finishing machine investment for First Impression Labels. The order was confirmed on the second day of Propak Africa by Vaughan Cumming, Operations Director of First Impression Labels.Pascal Aengenvoort, Director of Rotocon, commented: "We are thrilled to receive this second Rotocontrol order from First Impression Labels at Propak Africa. The overall attendance to our stand so far has been exceptional and there has been considerable interest in the RSC finishing machine demonstration, in addition to MPS offset and flexo printing.”

Other exhibitors also reported their successes at the show.

“Propak Africa is the largest show in the industry on the African continent and it is growing each time,” says Jeff Cawcutt, Director, Maritime Marketing. “We used Propak as a showcase for our products and as a branding exercise and we’ve had a positive experience here. It’s a great platform and an opportunity to create and build relationships. We had a lot of decision makers coming through to our stand and had some good inquiries.”

“To expose our products and to meet face to face with our customers,” is why Cabletech chose to be at Propak. Says Pierre Jurgens, Cabletech’s Managing Director: “Our objective was to service the industry and to showcase the quality of our products, mainly our machinery. We enjoyed a very positive response from the show. It was excellent with top quality visitors and we picked up some great leads.”

Corne Prestorius, Technical Manager at Nissei ASB South Africa says that his company has been exhibiting at Propak for the past fourteen years and uses the show to give support to the industry and to build existing company relationships. “We supply to the whole of Africa especially eastern Africa and have just opened an office in Nigeria. The show has been good for us with two sales made from our stand and we met new customers.”

Thunderbolt’s objective was to increase its profile in packaging. Showcasing digital printing and its move into the packaging industry, Managing Director Peter van der Walt says “we had a very positive response at Propak and had triple the inquiries that we had expected to receive at the expo with many decision-makers on our stand. The show has exceeded our expectations.” Leon Minnie, Production Manager at Konica says that “the quality of the visitors has been to a very high standard and they have generated leads”. Bewick’s Director Bruce Beswick, says that they exhibited to reinforce their position in the market and that they have “a lot of sales leads”.
“We exhibited at Propak Africa to celebrate our 80th Birthday and to expose our company’s vision whilst networking with new and existing customers,” says Tyrone Voller, Innovations and Marketing Manager at Afripak. “There was a high quality of visitors present at the expo and we have created a lot of leads. The show has definitely met our objectives.”

International exhibitor representation at this year’s show had increased over the previous show in 2009 that saw individual companies exhibiting as well as the Turkey, French, Italian and Taiwan Pavilions. “Ten French companies were exhibiting in the French Pavilion, showcasing their know-how, their products, their equipment and their innovative technology’” says Tatiana Miron, Senior Trade Adviser, Agriculture and Food industries Department, French Trade Commission Ubifrance in South Africa, Mozambique and Mauritius. “France is looking to strengthen its relationship with South African Companies and to develop long term partnerships.”

Says Arielle Gernez Project Manager at the French Pavilion: “Our objective was to bring French businesses across the borders and to create and build relationships. A high quality of visitor has been present at the expo and we have had a lot of decision makers on our stand. Sales have been made and a lot of leads have been created”. Giovanni De Rosa, General Manager SIPA, Italian Trade Commission, agreed. “We wanted to introduce ourselves to the South African market and we have had a very positive response. We are happy. There have been very good quality visitors and we have created leads.” As added value to the show, the Institute of Packaging South Africa, Plastics SA and Printing SA hosted co-located conferences where robust industry discussion and panel debates brought industry issues and global trends to the fore.

“We thank both our exhibitors and our visitors for partnering with us at the show and we look forward to taking it from strength to strength. Our regional show, Propak Cape will take place from 21 to 23 October 2014 at the CTICC in Cape Town and Propak Africa returns to the Expo Centre, Nasrec, from 15 to 18 March 2016.”